


That little piece of memory

by Piripulix300



Series: Sanji-centered one shots [8]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Memories, POV Vinsmoke Sanji, Whump, sanji is a good friend, usopp whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:35:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26221234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piripulix300/pseuds/Piripulix300
Summary: Sanji finds Usopp when the sniper is reflecting on past memories. Time to help a friend.
Relationships: Usopp & Vinsmoke Sanji
Series: Sanji-centered one shots [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/929025
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	That little piece of memory

Living on the Sunny was a journey by itself. There was always a new commotion usually caused by Luffy. How he could manage to create a new adventure on the same boat every day was beyond the crew's comprehension.

It is only logical that, as everyone did, Sanji sometimes wanted calm. It is a very human desire after all, and only a handful of people can live surrounded by the noise every day. Unfortunately for Sanji, most of them lived on the Thousand Sunny. Finding a peaceful moment was, therefore, a much harder task than what should be. Tha nkfully, the Sunny was quite big, and it had a lot of places to rest without being bothered. Except if Luffy decided to play a random hide-and-seek game of course. 

After dinner, Sanji washed the dishes. His friends were all on the deck playing a card game and Sanji was feeling a little overwhelmed by their energy.

He went down to a lower floor and got out on one of the balconies. To his surprise, there was already someone there, seeking calm just like him. Seeing that it was neither his lovely Nami-swan nor his dear Robin-chwan he almost left, but before closing the door he noticed it was Usopp. A quiet Usopp was never good news. Sanji had to figure out what the problem was. He approached, making to make some noise so that the sniper would hear him coming. Usopp didn't seem to notice him, even with Sanji's heels smacking the floor. He was looking at some kind of piece of paper in his hand.

If him coming near wasn’t loud enough, the sound of a cigarette being lit up would certainly awake Usopp from his deep meditation. It had before, it would work again. Strangely, this time it didn’t. The marksman was still too absorbed by his thoughts to realise that he wasn't alone anymore.

Now he was getting annoyed by it. There was a limit for his patience when dealing with the boys. If Usopp didn't want to be surprised, then Usopp shouldn't be asking for it. Sanji leaned right above his friend’s shoulder.

"Oi."

"AAAAAAAAH !"

As expected, Usopp jumped a foot in the air. At the same time, he let go of whatever he was holding. The piece of paper flew from his hands.

"Shit shit shit shit !" Usopp said.

Usopp tried to catch the paper, but he kept barely missing it. He was tiptoeing and swinging wildly at the paper, who kept ascending out of his reach. It passed over the railing, and Usopp jumped after it. He missed it once more before finally catching it. 

"Yes!"

"Usopp!"

It was only because Sanji yelled that the marksman realized how precarious his situation was. He had jumped out of the Sunny and was about to fall in the sea. 

"AAAAAAH! Sanji, help !"

Sanji reached out as fast as he could. His hand grabbed Usopp’s arm.

"Got you, hang on!

Usopp quickly put the paper in some pocket and swung at Sanji to get a hold of him. He reached out like a madman and grabbed his arm. The survival part of his brain understood that the wrinkling he was doing to Sanji’s suit was above the acceptable level and that he'd have to pay for that later. However, he was more concerned by the fact that he was still trying to get back on the Sunny without falling in the sea. Sanji said nothing about it, just hauled him back on the Sunny. The cook dropped Usopp on the floor, who still hung to him like a lifeline. It was only there that Sanji shook his arm in an attempt to make the sharpshooter understand that grabbing his suit was unacceptable. Usopp was unresponsive.

"Oi, you're safe now."

It was like a light turned on in Usopp’s brain. He released the suit and sprung back to life immediately. 

"You asshole! How could you scare me like that?"

"Couldn't help it," Sanji answered with a smile. "I wasn't trying to scare you at first. You only had eyes for that paper you jumped to get back."

"Paper? The… Oh! Hmm…Yes."

Usopp was a great liar. Most of the time. Right now though, it was obvious that he was not telling the whole truth. There was definitely something. Sanji wanted to know, but he knew things like that weren’t his forte. He was still working on making things up with Zoro from his last misunderstanding. He didn’t want to fuck things up with Usopp too. Zoro was a grown man but Usopp... well he didn’t know if Usopp could take it as well as the swordsman. Sanji was sick of making the same mistakes over and over again. He had to be subtle about this, something he usually reserved for the girls.

"Is this an important paper Usopp?" Sanji asked.

It was obvious that it was important. Sanji could see how distraught the sniper was after almost losing it. He hoped Usopp's answer would be an opening.

"Well uh... Not really. It just flew away and... Trying to catch it was a reflex you know?"

Usopp laughed but made the mistake to look at Sanji. The undisturbed look on the cook's face was enough to make him lose his fake smile.

"It... Oh. I can't lie about that."

Usopp opened his hands to look at the paper. It was firmly stuck with his thumb and drifting in the wind.

"I guess I didn't want to let go. I really believed that it was Merry's way of saying that it wanted to stay with us longer."

Sanji was taken aback by this. How could paper remind Usopp of the Vogue Merry? There was probably something else to it. Looking closer, he realised something. It was not paper that Usopp was holding, but a white piece of sail.

"It flew my way when the Merry... burned. It's probably stupid but I couldn't leave it."

Sanji said nothing. There was nothing to be said. Merry's burning had been a very intense moment. Thinking back, the cook had been very impressed by Usopp's behaviour. Only a day prior he had been fighting Luffy over it, but then at its burning, he had barely said a word. It felt like Usopp had understood something in the few hours he had been away from the crew. Was he blaming himself for keeping a memory? Because Sanji was in the same situation as him if that was the case. He still had Zeff's antique pocket watch. And what was a piece of sail, anyway? Any good memories were worth being remembered by.

As it is, Usopp was waiting for Sanji's answer. But the cook didn't want him to think that he was pitying him, or anything else. He was usually good with words, but he had to be extremely cautious this time. This was a highly sensitive subject for Usopp. Finally, after a minute of deep thinking and uncomfortable silence, Sanji thought of something. He blew a streak of smoke, for good measure, and spoke.

"… It had a really good kitchen."

Usopp's head sprung up. Out of the things he thought Sanji would say, this one was very low on the list. Although when he looked at the cook, his stoïcness surprised him. Usopp couldn't see Sanji's point.

"Uh... yes"

"It was my first very own kitchen." Sanji continued. "The first time I wasn't surrounded by other cooks all the time. I felt so important."

Sanji kept talking. About this and that, things he knew about. Good memories. The cook was pretty invested in his stories, and Usopp relaxed soon enough. It was odd but comforting, and it was working. Usopp could feel his smile slowly returning to his face. They spent a few minutes reminiscing the good times. Usopp told how Luffy once ran all around the Merry three times to find his hat. That day, Usopp had hidden it on Merry's head. He had a good laugh when Luffy started blaming Merry of stealing. Sanji also had a few stories to share, about how Zoro had once sharpened his knives too much as revenge, and how that had backfired quite spectacularly. Usopp laughed a lot. He didn't know half the stuff Sanji was telling him, but his petty fights with the swordsman were hilarious.

At some point, the conversation ended. Sanji had finished his cigarette a long time ago and was deciding if taking another one was worth it or not. The sniper had a dreamy look on his face, and a nagging feeling was telling Sanji that this wasn't the end of it. Surely, Usopp took the piece of sail out again and raised it high.

"The others have all moved on, right?" Usopp asked suddenly.

It was left unsaid that Usopp's real question was "why can't I?", but it was useless to say it aloud. Sanji decided this was not the time for another cigarette.

"Hey, Usopp. It's okay to have feelings."

Usopp turned to look at him with scepticism.

"I guess," Usopp answered. "But they're pretty useless in a fight if you ask me."

Maybe it was his imagination, but he could swear he saw Sanji flinch at least for a second. By the time he blinked, the cook's face was as neutral as before.

"How would you qualify Luffy's fighting?"

"What?"

Usopp tried to understand how relevant this was to their argument but it was the second time he was asking himself that this evening and he was tired of guessing.

"He's the most powerful person I know."

Sanji's smile was unsettling. It was a mixture of arrogance and pride.

"Then I guess feelings aren't as useless as you think, right?"

Awesome. Now, Usopp felt like a fool. Luffy was always fighting with all his heart, never listening to reason. That was a pretty good point. Their captain  _did_ use his emotions a lot. A hand fell on his shoulder. 

"You remember about the Merry. That's good. Thank you for remembering for us, Usopp."

The cook sounded earnest and Usopp vaguely wondered if he was worth being thanked before the smile of his friend got the best of him.

"But before anything, we have to ask the Sunny if it's alright to keep this."

Once again he managed to surprise Usopp. Sanji closed his eyes and joined his hands. Usopp imitated him.

"Will you do us the honor, Usopp?"

"Sunny, we ask permission to keep a piece of the Going Merry with us."

Right then, a big wave hit the hull of the ship, making them lose their balance. Sanji clutched the railing at the last second and Usopp fell on his ass, before said wave crashed on his face. He coughed. When he got his bearing back, he noticed the Sanji was laughing.

"Sanji! That's not funny! I could've drowned!"

The cook was still laughing, and Usopp knew he would keep going for a while if Usopp let him. So he punched him in the chest. Sanji had the decency to pretend to be hurt.

"Well, I guess that's our answer."

"Yes."

Usopp took his bandana off and squeezed the water out of it. Before he could finish, Sanji turned around to leave.

"Don't stay out too late, alright? You're the only one around that can handle Luffy's eccentricities at dawn. I don't want him in my kitchen before breakfast."

"Yeeees."

Sanji closed the door when leaving. Nothing could be heard from the other side. He paused. Usopp was a good guy, very confident when it didn't come to battle. Which was stupid, because the guy could fight. Sanji had probably caught him in a tight spot. The cook shrugged his suspicions off. A coincidence. It was a shame to see their sharpshooter like this.

He hoped he had done good.


End file.
